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Our Parish Cookbook


Candlelight Celebrations is not your ordinary church cookbook. The St. Thomas’ Episcopal Church cookbook Candlelight Celebrations blends the tastes, traditions and techniques of our diverse congregation into a unique collection of recipes. 

St. Thomas Episcopal Church was founded in 1958 with 70 people. The congregation has grown since then to more than 250 families from all corners of the globe in heritage and tradition. Many have traveled widely besides,  collecting the foods they loved along the way. You’ll find the best of these in Candlelight Celebrations.

From “J. T.’s Green Hell” to “Lobster Parisienne”, the 180 pages of recipes run the spectrum of foods: simple to elaborate, down-home to elegant. In addition to parishioners’ recipes, the hard-bound book features local restaurants’ contributions such as Green Bottle Grill’s Fruit Tart and Clementine’s Grilled Chicken Pesto. Interspersed in the text are prayers, blessings, and short notes on the history of the parish. The complete index and the table of contents make the recipes easy to find.

The book, priced at $17.50, was printed to raise money for St. Thomas’ two main outreach activities: Habitat for Humanity in Huntsville, Alabama, and a yearly medical mission to the Honduras, Central America. You can order it by calling the church at (256) 880-0247.


 
 
 Sample Recipes

Steamed Lobster

Serves 1

Salt to taste 1 (1 ¼- to 1 ½)-pound lobster
Water
Place 1-inch heavily salted water in large deep stockpot. Bring to a rolling boll. Place lobster in water. Cook, covered, for 15 to 20 minutes or until lobster is red.  May boil lobster in sea water if available.
 
 

Lobster  Parisienne

Serves 4

2 quarts court bouillon 
½ cup chopped cooked carrots
4 (1 ¼- to 1 ½-pound) live lobsters 
½ cup chopped cooked turnips
½ cup cooked peas
1 cup fresh herbs (parsley, tarragon, dill, watercress) 
½ cup chopped cooked green beans
1 ½ cups mayonnaise
Bring bouillon to rolling boll in stockpot. Add lobsters.
Cook, covered, for 15 minutes. Let stand in cooking liquid until cool.
Place herbs in saucepan. Add water to cover.
Cook for 2 to 3 minutes; drain.
Place herbs and mayonnaise in blender container. Process until herbs are pur6ed and mayonnaise is green.
Combine half the mayonnaise with carrots, turnips, peas and green beans in bowl.
Drain lobsters; remove meat from shells, reserving shells. Discard lobster head sac and intestinal tract. Fill shells with vegetable salad. Arrange lobster meat over salad. Top with remaining mayonnaise. Garnish with additional watercress.
Herbs may be pureed by pressing through sieve and stirred into mayonnaise.

 

 

12200 Bailey Cove Road, Huntsville, AL 35803 · 256-880-0247 · stthomas @ stthomas.hsv.org

St. Thomas Episcopal Church is a member of the Diocese of Alabama in the Protestant Episcopal Church in the USA, which is the only recognized member of the Anglican Communion in the United States.